Pages

Troost and Speer - Hitlers Architekten

At the 1933 Nürnberg Reichsparteitag, the new Chancellor, Adolf Hitler proclaimed the dawn of an era of 'New Art' - and instituted the Reichskulturkammer (Reich Chamber of Culture) to oversee the cultural life of Das Dritte Reich, (the Third Reich).The Reichskulturkammer was headed by Dr. Paul Joseph Göbbels.The Reichskulturkammer was to control all aspects of culture, and this included the fine arts, applied arts, industrial design, sculpture, architecture and film.

'Germany wants again a “German Art,” and this art shall and will be of eternal value, as are all truly creative values of a people.

Should this art, however, again lack this eternal value for our people, then indeed it will mean that it also has no higher value today

When, therefore, the cornerstone of this building was laid, it was with the intention of constructing a temple, not for a so-called modern art, but for a true and everlasting German art, that is, better still, a House for the art of the German people.

It is therefore imperative for the artist to erect monuments, not so much to a period, but to his people.

For time is changeable, years come and go.

Anything born of and thriving on a certain epoch alone would perish with it.

And not only all which had been created before us would fall victim to this mortality, but also what is being created today or will be created in the future.

But the National-Socialists know of only one mortality, and that is the mortality of the people itself:

As long as a people exists, however, it is the fixed pole in the flight of fleeting appearances.

It is the quality of being and lasting permanence.

And, indeed, for this reason, art as an expression of the essence of this being, is an eternal monument.'

Hitler appreciated the neo-classical architects of the 19th century such as Gottfried Semper, who built the Dresden Opera House, the Picture Gallery in Dresden, the court museums in Vienna and Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, who designed several buildings in Athens in 1840. He also admired the neo-baroque the Palais Garnier, home of the Paris Opera, and the neo-classical Law Courts of Brussels by the architect Poelaert.

Ultimately, he was always drawn back to inflated neo-baroque such as Kaiser Wilhelm II had fostered, through his court architect Ernst von Ihne.

Thus, in the realm of architecture, as in painting and sculpture, Hitler saw his ideal in the world of his youth: the world of 1880 to 1910, which stamped its imprint on his artistic taste as on his political and ideological conceptions.

The Führer did not have one particular style; there was no official architecture of the Reich, only the neoclassical baseline that was enlarged, multiplied, altered and exaggerated.

Hitler appreciated the permanent qualities of the classical style as it had a relationship between the Dorians and his own Germanic world.

P A U L L U D W I G T R O O S T

Paul Ludwig Troost (August 17, 1878 – March 21, 1934), born in Elberfeld, was a German architect.

An extremely tall, spare-looking, reserved Westphalian with a close-shaven head, Troost belonged to a school of architects, Peter Behrens and Walter Gropius who, even before 1914, reacted sharply against the highly ornamental Jugendstil and advocated a restrained, lean architectural approach, almost devoid of ornament.

Troost graduated from designing steamship décor before World War I, and the fittings for showy transatlantic liners like the Europa, to a style that combined Spartan traditionalism with elements of modernity.Although, before 1933 he did not belong to the leading group of German architects, he became Hitler's foremost architect whose neo-classical style became for a time the official architecture of the Third Reich.In the autumn of 1933, he was commissioned to rebuild and refurnish the Chancellery residence in Berlin.Along with other architects, Troost planned and built State and municipal edifices throughout the country, including new administrative offices, social buildings for workers and bridges across the main highways.

One of the many structures he planned before his death was the House of German Art in Munich, intended to be a great temple for a "true, eternal art of the German people".It was a good example of the classical forms in monumental public buildings during the Third Reich, though subsequently Hitler moved away from the more restrained style of Troost, reverting to the imperial grandeur that he had admired in the Vienna Ringstraße of his youth.Hitler's relationship to Troost was that of a pupil to an admired teacher.According to Albert Speer, who later became Hitler's favorite architect, the Führer would impatiently greet Troost with the words: "I can't wait, Herr Professor. Is there anything new? Let's see it!" Troost would then lay out his latest plans and sketches.Hitler frequently declared, according to Speer, that "he first learned what architecture was from Troost"'.The architect's death on March 21, 1934, after a severe illness, was a painful blow, but Hitler remained close to his widow Gerdy Troost, whose architectural taste frequently coincided with his own, which made her (in Speer's words) "a kind of arbiter of art in Munich."Troost was buried in the "Nordfriedhof" Cemetery (North Cemetery) in Munich.The gravestone (see above left) still survives although the family name has been removed.Hitler posthumously awarded Troost the German National Prize for Art and Science in 1936.

FÜHRERBAU - KÖNIGSPLATZ MÜNCHEN

Paul Ludwig Troost

The Fuehrerbau, on the Königsplatz in Munich, was built from 1933 to 1937 by the architect Paul Ludwig Troost.

The first plans for the buildings date from the year 1931.

It was completed only three years after the death of Professor Troost by Leonhard Gall.

The building was used as the national administrative centre for the NSDAP.

GRAND STAIRCASE

FÜHRERBAU - KÖNIGSPLATZ MÜNCHEN

Paul Ludwig Troost

ADOLF HITLER'S STUDY

FÜHRERBAU - KÖNIGSPLATZ MÜNCHEN

Paul Ludwig Troost

MAIN CORRIDOR

FÜHRERBAU - KÖNIGSPLATZ MÜNCHEN

Paul Ludwig Troost

EHRENTEMPEL - KÖNIGSPLATZ MÜNCHEN

Paul Ludwig Troost

The Ehrentempel ("honor temples") were two structures in Munich, designed by Professor Paul Ludwig Troost, and erected by the German Government in 1935, housing the sacrophagi of the sixteen members of the party who had been killed in the failed Beer hall putsch.The Ehrentempel was made of limestone except for its roof which was made of steel and concrete with etched glass mosaics.The pedestals of the temples were seventy feet wide.

The columns of the structures each extended twenty-three feet. The combined weight of the sacrophagi was over 2,900 pounds.The following martyrs of the National Socialis German Workers Party were interred in the Ehrentempel:

DAS HAUS DER DEUTSCHEN KUNST
(The House of German Art)
Paul Ludwig Troost

DAS HAUS DER DEUTSCHEN KUNST

(The House of German Art)

Paul Ludwig Troost

DAS HAUS DER DEUTSCHEN KUNST

Paul Ludwig Troost

DAS HAUS DER DEUTSCHEN KUNST

Paul Ludwig Troost

DAS HAUS DER DEUTSCHEN KUNST

Paul Ludwig Troost

A L B E R T S P E E R

Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, (March 19, 1905 – September 1, 1981) was a German architect.Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office. Speer joined the Nazi Party in 1931, launching him on a political and governmental career which lasted fourteen years. His architectural skills made him increasingly prominent within the Party and he became a member of Hitler's inner circle.Hitler commissioned him to design and construct a number of structures, including the Reich Chancellery and the Zeppelinfeld stadium in Nuremberg where Party rallies were held. Speer also made plans to reconstruct Berlin on a grand scale, with huge buildings, wide boulevards, and a reorganized transportation system.Speer was born in Mannheim, into a wealthy middle class family.Speer was active in sports, taking up skiing and mountaineering.Speer followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and studied architecture.Speer began his architectural studies at the University of Karlsruhe.In 1924 he transferred to the Technical University of Munich.In 1925 he transferred again, this time to the Technical University of Berlin where he studied under Heinrich Tessenow, whom Speer greatly admired.After passing his exams in 1927, Speer became Tessenow's assistant, a high honor for a man of 22.As such, Speer taught some of Tessenow's classes while continuing his own postgraduate studies.In Munich, and continuing in Berlin, Speer began a close friendship, ultimately spanning over 50 years, with Rudolf Wolters, who also studied under Tessenow.In mid-1922, Speer began courting Margarete (Margret) Weber (1905–1987).The two married in Berlin on August 28, 1928.In 1931, Speer surrendered his position as Tessenow's assistant, hoping to use his father's connections to get commissions.In July 1932, the Speers visited Berlin to help out the Party prior to the Reichstag elections. While they were there, Hanke recommended the young architect to Goebbels to help renovate the Party's Berlin headquarters.

Speer, who had been about to leave with his wife for a vacation in East Prussia, agreed to do the work.When the commission was completed, Speer returned to Mannheim and remained there as Hitler took office in January 1933.After the Nazis took control, Hanke recalled Speer to Berlin. Goebbels, the new Propaganda Minister, commissioned Speer to renovate his Ministry's building on Wilhelmplatz.Speer also designed the 1933 May Day commemoration in Berlin.Speer's next major assignment was as liaison to the Berlin building trades for Paul Troost's renovation of the Chancellery.As Chancellor, Hitler had a residence in the building and came by every day to be briefed by Speer and the building supervisor on the progress of the renovations.After one of these briefings, Hitler invited Speer to lunch.Hitler evinced considerable interest in Speer during the luncheon, and later told Speer that he had been looking for a young architect capable of carrying out his architectural dreams for the new Germany.Speer quickly became part of Hitler's inner circle..The two men found much in common: Hitler spoke of Speer as a "kindred spirit" for whom he had always maintained "the warmest human feelings".The young, ambitious architect was dazzled by his rapid rise and close proximity to Hitler, which guaranteed him a flood of commissions from the government and from the highest ranks of the Party.

When Troost died on January 21, 1934, Speer effectively replaced him as the Party's chief architect. Hitler appointed Speer as head of the Chief Office for Construction, which placed him nominally on Hess's staff.[34]One of Speer's first commissions after Troost's death was the Zeppelinfeld stadium—the Nürnberg parade grounds seen in Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda masterpiece Triumph of the Will. This huge work was capable of holding 340,000 people.The tribune was influenced by the Pergamon Altar in Anatolia, but was magnified to an enormous scale.Speer surrounded the site with 130 anti-aircraft searchlights. This created the effect of a "cathedral of light" or, as it was called by British Ambassador Sir Neville Henderson, a "cathedral of ice".Nürnberg was to be the site of many more official Nazi buildings, most of which were never built; for example, the German Stadium would have accommodated 400,000 spectators, while an even larger rally ground would have held half a million Nazis.While planning these structures, Speer invented the concept of "ruin value": that major buildings should be constructed in such a way that they would leave aesthetically pleasing ruins for thousands of years into the future.Such ruins would be a testament to the greatness of the Third Reich, just as ancient Greek or Roman ruins were symbols of the greatness of those civilizations.Hitler enthusiastically embraced this concept, and ordered that all the Reich's important buildings be constructed in accord with it.In 1937, Hitler appointed Speer as General Building Inspector for the Reich Capital with the rank of undersecretary of state in the Reich government.The position carried with it extraordinary powers over the Berlin city government and made Speer answerable to Hitler alone.Hitler ordered Speer to make plans to rebuild Berlin.The plans centered on a three-mile long grand boulevard running from north to south, which Speer called the Prachtstrasse, or Street of Magnificence; he also referred to it as the "North-South Axis".At the north end of the boulevard, Speer planned to build the Volkshalle, a huge assembly hall with a dome which would have been over 700 feet (210 m) high, with floor space for 180,000 people.At the southern end of the avenue would be a huge triumphal arch; it would be almost 400 feet (120 m) high, and able to fit the Arc de Triomphe inside its opening.The outbreak of World War II in 1939 led to the postponement, and eventual abandonment, of these plans.In January 1938, Hitler asked Speer to build a new Reich Chancellery on the same site as the existing structure, and said he needed it for urgent foreign policy reasons no later than his next New Year's reception for diplomats on January 10, 1939.

This was a huge undertaking, especially since the existing Chancellery was in full operation. Although the site could not be cleared until April, Speer was successful in building the large, impressive structure in nine months.The structure included the "Marble Gallery": at 146 metres long, almost twice as long as the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.Speer employed thousands of workers in two shifts. Hitler, who had remained away from the project, was overwhelmed when Speer turned it over, fully furnished, two days early.In appreciation for the architect's work on the Chancellery, Hitler awarded Speer the Nazi Golden Party Badge.

Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler &amp; Arno Breker - Paris - June 1940

REICH ADLER

Albert Speer

NEUE REICHSKANZEI - BERLIN

Albert Speer

NEUE REICHSKANZEI - MARMORGALERIE - BERLIN

Albert Speer

In late January 1938, Adolf Hitler officially assigned his favourite architect Albert Speer to build the New Reich Chancellery around the corner on Voßstraße, a branch-off of Wilhelmstraße, requesting that the building be completed within a year.

Hitler commented that Bismarck's Old Chancellery was "fit for a soap company" but not suitable as headquarters of a Greater German Reich. It nevertheless remained his official residence with its recently refurbished representation rooms on the groundfloor and private rooms on the upper floor where Hitler lived in the so called Führerwohnung ("Führer apartment").

Hitler placed the entire northern side of the Voßstraße at Speer's disposal assigning him the work of creating grand halls and salons which "will make an impression on people".

Speer was given a blank cheque — Hitler stated that the cost of the project was immaterial — and was instructed that the building be of solid construction and that it be finished by the following January in time for the next New Year diplomatic reception to be held in the new building.

Over 4,000 workers toiled in shifts, so the work could be accomplished round-the-clock.

In the end it cost over 90 Million Reichsmark, well over one billion dollars today.

In his memoirs, Speer described the impression of the Reichskanzlei on a visitor:

The series of rooms comprising the approach to Hitler's reception gallery were decorated with a rich variety of materials and colours and totalled 220 m (725 ft) in length.

From the exterior, the chancellery had a stern, authoritarian appearance.

From the Wilhelmplatz, visitors would enter the Chancellery through the Court of Honour (Ehrenhof). The building's main entrance was flanked by two bronze statues by sculptor Arno Breker: "Wehrmacht" and "Partei" ("Armed Forces" and "Party").

Hitler is said to have been greatly impressed by the building and was uncharacteristically effusive with his praise for Speer, lauding the architect as a "genius".

The chancellor's immense study was a particular favourite of the dictator.

The large marble-topped table served as an important part of the Nazi leader's military headquarters, the study being used for military conferences from 1944 on. On the other hand, the Cabinet room was never used for its intended purpose.

Welthauptstadt Germania ("World Capital Germania") refers to the projected renewal of the German capital Berlin during the Nazi period, part of Adolf Hitler's vision for the future of Germany after the planned victory in World War II.

Albert Speer, the "first architect of the Third Reich", produced many of the plans for the rebuilt city in his capacity as overseer of the project, only a small portion of which was realized between the years 1937-1943 when construction took place.

Some projects, such as the creation of a great East-West city axis, which included broadening Charlottenburger Chaussee (today Straße des 17. Juni) and placing the Berlin victory column in the center, far away from the Reichstag, where it originally stood, succeeded.

Others, however, such as the creation of the Große Halle (Great Hall), had to be shelved owing to the beginning of war.

A great number of the old buildings in many of the planned construction areas were however demolished before the war and eventually defeat stopped the plans.

The combined name "Welthauptstadt Germania" for the project was coined by Albert Speer in his 1969 memoirs Inside the Third Reich.

MODELL DER NEUGESTALTUNG - GERMANIA

Albert Speer

According to the records of Hitler's Table Talk of 8 June 1942 Hitler toyed with the idea of renaming the renewed Berlin into 'Germania', in order to give a Greater Germanic world empire a clear central point:

The term Welthauptstadt (World Capital) was already used by Hitler three months prior on the night between the 11th and 12th of March 1942 in the Wolf's Lair:

"Berlin as the World Capital will only be comparable with Ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Rome! What are London and Paris compared to that!"

The title 'Welthauptstadt' was chosen because it was felt that Berlin's architecture was at that time too provincial and that there was need to put Berlin on a par with and exceed the quality of other world capitals such as London, Paris and especially Rome.

MODELL DER NEUGESTALTUNG - GERMANIA

Albert Speer

GROßE HALLE - GERMANIA

Albert Speer

The sketch of the Volkshalle given by Hitler to Speer shows a traditional gabled pronaos supported by ten columns, a shallow rectangular intermediate block and behind it the domed main building.

However, there was little about Speer's elaboration of the sketch that might be termed Doric, except perhaps for the triglyphs in the entablature, supported by the geminated red granite columns with their Egyptian palm-leaf capitals, previously employed by Speer in the portico outside Hitler's study on the garden side of the new Chancellery (see above).

GROßE HALLE - GERMANIA

Albert Speer

Speer's Große Halle was to be the capital's most important and impressive building in terms of its size and symbolism. Visually it was to have been the architectural centrepiece of Berlin as the world capital (Welthauptstadt).

Its dimensions were so large that it would have dwarfed every other structure in Berlin, including those on the north-south axis itself.

The oculus of the building's dome, 46 metres (151 ft) in diameter, would have accommodated the entire rotunda of Hadrian's Pantheon and the dome of St. Peter's Basilica.

The dome of the Volkshalle was to rise from a massive granite podium 315 by 315 metres (1,033 × 1,033 ft) and 74 metres (243 ft) high, to a total inclusive height of 290 metres (950 ft).

The resemblance of the Volkshalle to the Pantheon is far more obvious when their interiors are compared.

The large niche (50 metres high by 28 metres wide) at the north end of the Volkshalle was to be surfaced with gold mosaic and to enclose an eagle 24 metres (79 ft) high, beneath which was situated Hitler's tribunal.

From here he would address 180,000 listeners, some standing in the central round arena, others seated in three concentric tiers of seats crowned by one hundred marble pillars, 24 metres (79 ft) high, which rose to meet the base of the coffered ceiling suspended from steel girders sheathed on the exterior with copper.

The three concentric tiers of seats enclosing a circular arena 140 metres (460 ft) in diameter owe nothing to the Pantheon but resemble the seating arrangements in Ludwig Ruff's Congress Hall at Nuremberg, which was modeled on the Colosseum.

Other features of the Volkshalle's interior are clearly indebted to Hadrian's Pantheon: the coffered dome, the pillared zone, which here is continuous, except where it flanks the huge niche on the north side.

The second zone in the Pantheon, consisting of blind windows with intervening pilasters, is represented in Speer's building by a zone above the pillars consisting of uniform, oblong shallow recesses.

The coffered dome rests on this zone.

Hitler's aspirations to world domination and the establishment of his New Order, already evident from architectural and decorative features of the new Chancellery, are even more clearly expressed here.

External symbols suggest that the domed hall was where Hitler as cosmocrator (Herr der Welt) would appear before his Herrenvolk: On top of the dome's lantern was an eagle grasping in its claws not the usual swastika but the globe of the Earth (Erdball).

This combination of eagle and ball was well known in imperial Roman iconography, for example, the restored statue of Claudius holding a ball and eagle in his right hand.

The vast dome, on which it rested, as with Hadrian's Pantheon, symbolically represented the vault of the sky spanning Hitler's world empire.

The globe on the dome's lantern was enhanced and emphasized by two monumental sculptures by Breker, each 15 metres high, which flanked the north façade of the building: at its west end Atlas supporting the heavens, at its east end Tellus supporting the Earth.

Both mythological figures were according to Speer, chosen by Hitler himself.

Translate

NEW TITLE

Features an exhaustive and beautifully rendered set of Third Reich emblems, badges, flags and regalia by the renowned heraldic artist Peter Crawford - and also includes brief notes on the various groups and organisations, and additional contemporary photos and posters. A 'must see' for all those interested in this period of history, and/or heraldic and graphic art.

please note: this blog is not intended to approve, condone or encourage any of the beliefs and/or ideologies described herein.

All the information on this website is published in good faith and for general information purpose only.

This blog does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this website is strictly at your own risk. The Authors will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website.

From our website, you can visit other websites by following hyperlinks to such external sites. While we strive to provide only quality links to useful and ethical websites, we have no control over the content and nature of these sites. These links to other websites do not imply a recommendation for all the content found on these sites. Site owners and content may change without notice and may occur before we have the opportunity to remove a link which may have gone 'bad'.

Please be also aware that when you leave our website, other sites may have different privacy policies and terms which are beyond our control. Please be sure to check the Privacy Policies of these sites as well as their "Terms of Service" before engaging in any business or uploading any information.

If you wish to use non-copyright images please credit this blog.

Copyright images may not be used for any purpose.

By using our website, you hereby consent to our disclaimer and agree to its terms.